The film is too energetic, too jaw-droppingly campy, and too silly not to be enjoyed and celebrated on some level. "Cheesy" doesn't even begin to describe it, yet that's at the heart of its perverse charm. Now, that's entertainment!

There are also plenty of background sight gags that often go unnoticed on a first viewing.

At its best, Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown captures the flavor of the beloved comic strip gang but the stew is overcooked and things start to drag after a jaunty first half-hour or so. Overall, this is more for “Peanuts completists” than those looking to get a quick Charlie Brown fix.

Despite its deliberate pacing, it moves quickly, in large part because of the extraordinary way that Kubrick builds and deepens the sense of dread. Even seemingly normal and innocent moments - such as Danny tooling around the corridors of the hotel on his Big Wheel (with the sound of the wheels echoing on hard wood and muffled on carpet) - are overshadowed by an encroaching sense of the ominous. Technically, The Shining may be one of the most perfect motion pictures I have seen. It's too bad that the same level of excellence doesn't extend to the performances and screenplay. The Shining is well worth experiencing, but it does not rank as a member of Kubrick's top echelon of cinematic achievements.

The storyline is more interesting and ambitious, the characters -- little more than appealing types in the original -- are allowed to grow and develop, the special effects are more mature, and the tone is deliciously dark and downbeat. [Special Edition]

Friday the 13th is neither tense nor frightening (although, to be fair, it is at times creepy and atmospheric, due in part to budgetary limitations that led to a low-key style).

It's pretty much assumed throughout art and literature that the collapse of civilization will result in the rise of barbarism. That assumption underlies Mad Max, where the strong prey on the weak, and Max steps in to be the equalizer.

Today, it feels like a parody and at times slips into “so bad it’s enjoyable” territory.

This is a fairly standard-order bad taste movie, replete with all the characteristics of the genre: grotesque, over-the-top violence; copious blood and viscera; gratuitous, uncensored nudity; and borderline-pornographic sex.

A delightfully dark comedy that, despite a cynical bent, offers viewers a good time.

Perhaps the greatest strength of Star Trek: The Motion Picture is that, despite a badly-paced middle, it boasts a strong beginning and end.

A superior horror film that offers a greater sense of disquiet than any other Dracula motion picture. Nosferatu the Vampyre may not be scary in a traditional sense, but it is not easily forgotten.

For those who expect a tightly-written mixture of the detective and science fiction genres, Time After Time is bound to be a disappointment. It's more of a lighthearted fantasy/romance with a few thriller elements thrown in.

It has been said that a Monty Python movie is only successful if it offends everyone in the audience at least once. By that measuring stick as well as nearly any other, The Life of Brian is an unqualified triumph. It makes us confront our foibles and laugh at them.

While parts of Moonraker are rather silly (a trend during Roger Moore's tenure), solid special effects, well-executed action sequences, and a strict reliance upon the "Bond Formula" keep this film among Moore's better entries as the British superspy.

The most important features of this "new" version are the digital cleaning of the print and the re-mastering of the sound. There are a few added scenes, but they are mostly insignificant and have been previously seen (at least by fans of the movie) on the laserdisc or DVD releases.

If Manhattan was only a romantic comedy, it would be a very good one, but the fact that the movie has so much more ambition than the "average" entry into the genre makes it an extraordinary example of the fusion of entertainment and art. This is Allen in peak form, deftly mastering and combining the diverse threads of romance, drama, and comedy - and all against a black-and-white backdrop that makes us wonder why color is such a coveted characteristic in modern motion pictures.

There's no doubt that it's a flawed movie, but it's one of the most wonderfully entertaining flawed movies made.

From a shock-and-suspense point-of-view, Halloween is the rival of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho." With only a few arguable exceptions (such as "The Exorcist"), there isn't another post-1970 release that comes close to it in terms of scaring the living hell out of a viewer... A modern classic of the most horrific kind.

Being fascinating and unique, two qualities unquestionably in evidence here, don’t automatically deserve praise and, because of the film’s high quotient of tediousness, I find it impossible to recommend to any but the most devoted of experimental art film lovers. It works very well, however, as a cure for insomnia.

The film has too much surface beauty not to earn it a recommendation, but Days of Heaven satisfies only on a sensory level.

Grease works as a musical, a comedy, a light romance, and a gentle satire of teenage life during the '50s. In part because of its persistent high spirits, it's a delight to watch, even 20 years after it first appeared on the screen.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is unquestionably a great movie.

For the first time in three films, Roger Moore starts to unearth a personality for Bond.

Like all great craftsmen, Lucas has managed to fashion this material in a manner that not only honors the original sources, but makes it uniquely his own. Hacks rip off other movies; artists synthesize and pay homage to their inspirations.

Freaky Friday is motion picture cotton candy - sweet while it lasts, easily disposed of, and insubstantial. It will please those who seek it out, and probably won't horrify or disgust anyone who ends up seeing it for other reasons (dragged along, bribed, or otherwise coerced). There are enough clever and/or funny moments to provoke laughter from even a scowling 13-year old boy who wants to be next door watching Terminator 3 for the third time.

De Laurentiis' Kong may not be a grand, glorious modernization of a classic tale, but it's two-plus hours of big-scale, occasionally-foolish entertainment.

The basic storyline has been done to death over the years; this is still one of the most effective and successful applications of the formula.